Why the local left flips out over conservative school board candidates

This election cycle, a flurry of articles have come out to accuse right-wingers of “infiltrat[ing]” and “target[ing] school board races across [the] Bay Area.” How does the Left profit by aggressively imposing party distinctions on elections? Verlan Lewis explains in Party Politics that the strict Left vs. Right scale paradigm — called the Static Spectrum Fallacy (SSF) — is an illogical, intentionally divisive manner of demarcating ideologies.

Almost every partisan and ideological group—Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, and liberals—have an interest in propping up [SSF] because it feeds into their worldview and narrative of a virtuous “us” against a villainous “them.” In this way of thinking, “our” group/

team (“conservatives” or “liberals,” Republicans or Democrats) have always been the “good” guys, and we have always had the same fundamental belief system. Likewise, the “other” group/team (“conservatives” or “liberals,” Republicans or Democrats) have always been the “bad” guys, and they have always had the same fundamental belief system. This myth comforts and justifies partisans and ideologues, but it is bad social science. It is simply not true. The two major parties, and the two major ideologies, have changed dramatically in the past and the present. What “conservatism” and “Republicanism” mean in 2019 is very different from what they meant in 2009, and different from every previous instantiation—whether 1999, 1979, 1959, 1929, or 1869….

There is no essential or fixed meaning to liberalism, conservatism, Democratic Party ideology, or Republican Party ideology. Depending on a variety of factors, ideologies evolve more dramatically and rapidly at some times more than others. However, we cannot analyze or understand these developments if we rely, as most political scientists and observers do, on the SSF. It makes little sense to say that the Democratic and Republican Parties have “moved left” or “moved right” if the meanings of “left” and “right” themselves are always changing. Since the particular meaning and content of the two major parties’ ideologies have a tremendous impact on American social and political life, overcoming the SSF is of major importance….

This article originally appeared in Party Politics. Read the whole thing here.

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